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4th June 2001 Archive

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  • Nvidia's nForce chipset unwrapped

    Computex Smug demo, great graphics

    Nvidia has demoed its Xbox-derived PC chipset, nForce, at the Computex tradeshow in Taiwan, as we predicted. The demo was full of hyperbole and a lot of smug-looking Nvidia employees enjoying the graphics and sounds on display. But the graphics were very good for an integrated graphics chipset, and the Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, …

    Channel 4 Jun 2001, 08:49

  • Tiscali UK in stick up

    Jolly japes for survivors

    The outgoing hordes from LibertySurf UK made redundant last week have left a wee gift for the new occupants of their offices in Artillery Lane, London. Sources tell us that disgruntled employees plastered office walls with LibertySurf stickers just to give the new occupants - mostly from LineOne - a warm greeting. The stunt is …

    Bootnotes 4 Jun 2001, 08:50

  • 101 uses for an illuminated keyboard

    Well, four actually...

    It was typically cynical of Reg news editor Rob 'The Pond' Blincoe to question wearily who on earth might want to use an illuminated keyboard. In his recent piece - Light up my keyboard, he ill-advisedly noted that one manufacturer of such frivolities 'doesn't explain why you might be in a dark room full of people and …

    Bootnotes 4 Jun 2001, 08:52

  • CSC wins $240m Schroder outsourcing deal

    Nice bonus for SCC

    Schroders is expected to announce today the outsourcing of its IT operations to Computer Science Corporation, the FT reports. More than 200 Schroders staff will join CSC as part of the seven-year $240m deal. This will be a nice bonus for SCC, the UK's second biggest reseller, which handles desktop product fulfilment in the UK …

    Channel 4 Jun 2001, 09:10

  • When will Nvidia's nForce support Intel chips?

    Computex 'We have nothing to announce'

    It doesn't look like we'll see Nvidia's nForce integrated graphics chipset supporting Intel processors anytime soon. When quizzed about Nvidia's plans for Intel, during the Q&A session at the nForce launch at Computex in Taiwan, Tony Tamasi, director of product management, said: "We've got nothing to announce." The reason? " …

    Business 4 Jun 2001, 09:13

  • Mac OS X crashes: Radeon not guilty

    Learning to live with Mac OS X It was the fonts what done it...

    Fellow Mac OS X adopters who have bought - or are thinking of buying - ATI's retail Radeon graphics card can rest assured: Radeon Mac Edition is supported by Mac OS X - despite all my curmudgeonly complaints that it wasn't. I haven't received protestations from ATI - or Apple, for that matter - pointing out my error. No, I …

    Mac Channel 4 Jun 2001, 09:15

  • Trojan lets cyber-cops plant bogus evidence

    Aptly named D.I.R.T.

    Note: This story contains incomplete and inaccurate data. Please see my explanation and partial retraction for the latest and most accurate information. -- TCG A new tool of Fascist control, with which law-enforcement agents can secretly monitor the entire range of a suspect's computer activity, has been developed by self- …

    Music and Media 4 Jun 2001, 09:36

  • Infineon lets Rambus retain SDRAM patents

    It's worse for the chip maker's rivals this way

    Infineon does not want a Federal Judge to invalidate Rambus' SDRAM patents. It's an interesting reversal. After the jury sitting in Rambus' patent violation action against Infineon sided with the chip maker that Rambus had indeed committed fraud, Infineon said it would ask for Rambus' patents to be declared unenforceable. …

    Channel 4 Jun 2001, 10:04

  • HP PC biz to 'lose $100m' in 2001

    Analysts claims

    Hewlett-Packard is set to lose $100 million from its PC operation in 2001, according to Goldman Sachs, Sunday Business reports. Fierce competition seen HP's PC sales growth to fall from 2 per cent in Q1 to a fall of 4 per cent in Q2. Overall, HP is expected to see PC sales drop 10 per cent in 2001, say analysts cited by Sunday …

    Business 4 Jun 2001, 10:09

  • David Elstein to chair Silicon.com

    Channel 5 meets IT newswire

    David Elstein, former Channel 5 boss, is joining Silicon.com as non-exec chairman, The Sunday Times reports. "The company has shifted gear (and) gone beyond start-up stage, so we will be looking to develop and international business and media strategy that will turn it into an established business," he told the paper. Silicon …

    e-Business 4 Jun 2001, 10:19

  • Cisco eyes up Marconi

    £12bn buyout deal on the cards?

    Cisco Systems is considering making a £12 billion offer for British telecoms equipment maker Marconi. According to a report in yesterday's Sunday Business, the US networking giant is eyeing up Marconi to improve its sales in Europe. But Cisco CEO John Chambers has told advisors not to make an approach until Marconi has …

    Business 4 Jun 2001, 10:24

  • Review Sun Cobalt Qube 3

    Cobalt may not be a familiar name, but it's been producing server appliances since 1997. Bought last year by Sun, its focus remains the same - selling easy-to manage packages, rather than intimidating devices that require an enormous amount of skill, expertise and time. The Cobalt Qube (pronounced "cube") is certainly …

    Hardware Roundup 4 Jun 2001, 10:46

  • E-lection is turn-off (except for ridicule)

    Poltroon Lampoon

    Britain's first "e-lection" has been a flop, according to the thinkers at The Industrial Society. Instead of creating a new theatre for political discussion the Net has become a place to lampoon politicians. Satirical cartoons and games involving throwing punches and eggs have all left their mark on Britain's online electorate …

    Music and Media 4 Jun 2001, 10:56

  • NASA scramjet crashes and burns

    Completely destroyed

    NASA's hypersonic scramjet project suffered a major setback on June 2 when its unpiloted X-43A research aircraft was destroyed shortly after release from a B-52. According to NASA: "Following pre-launch countdown and separation from the B-52, a malfunction occurred about five seconds after ignition of the Pegasus motor that …

    Bootnotes 4 Jun 2001, 10:58

  • E-government project doomed to fail

    We don't want to say we told you so

    The government's 2005 deadline for getting all government services on the Internet is "doomed to fail", says a report prepared by lobby group Eurim. The group's report on New Labour's ambitious e-government plan is due to come out after the election but a summary of it was leaked to The Guardian. In it, government ministers are …

    Music and Media 4 Jun 2001, 11:47

  • Broadband Canada outperforms broadband US

    Cable more popular than DSL

    Canada has double the broadband penetration compared to the US, according to a survey by Kinetic Strategies Inc. As of June 1 there were 7.6 million residential broadband subscribers in the US and 1.7 million in Canada. Broadband penetration in Canada is equal to 15 percent - double that in the US. In total there are 9.3 …

    Telecoms 4 Jun 2001, 11:55

  • Labour chases the hard drinking, hard texting voter

    Plays the LST ORDRS card

    The Labour Party went all out at the weekend to woo the hard-drinking, hard-texting voter. Keen to remind the nation to get down to the polling station this Thursday, the party blitzed supporters' mobiles with a text message on Saturday night. "CLDNT GVE A XXXX 4 LST ORDRS? VTE LBR ON THRSDY 4 XTRA TIME," voters out on the …

    Data Networking 4 Jun 2001, 11:59

  • India to levitate flying car

    Cue aerial mayhem?

    An Indian boffin appears to have got the jump on his US counterparts with a 12-rotor jambusting flying car. Engineer Rakesh Goel expects the vehicle will be in production by 2004. He claims it is safer than a helicopter and ideal in crowded cities. Mr Goel does seem, however, to have overlooked the consequences of giving the …

    Bootnotes 4 Jun 2001, 12:01

  • NetWare p/w bug is ‘not in real world’

    Theory or practice?

    Novell has downplayed the significance of a NetWare 5.x bug which could result in an admin password being left in plain text on a server. Crackers, it says, would not be able to access the relevant file in the first place. When a backup job is submitted, using SBCON (the replacement for SBACKUP), NetWare 5.x creates a file ( …

    Security 4 Jun 2001, 12:08

  • Intel to release Brookdale ‘earlier than October’

    Good news for system builders

    Intel aims to release the 845 chipset which enables cheaper memory to run with Pentium 4, "earlier than October," Bill M Siu, an Intel veep, told Bloomberg. This is good news for system builders - and punters - if Intel succeeds in turning this goal into a reality. An August or September launch means that cheaper motherboards …

    Channel 4 Jun 2001, 12:42

  • ORBS is dead. Again.

    Disconnected. Gone. Nada

    Anti-spam site ORBS has vanished from the Internet, leaving just the line: "Due to circumstances beyond our control, the ORBS website is no longer available". Its phone has been disconnected. And we can't find one person that can tell us what is going on (the fact that it's in the early hours in New Zealand at the moment doesn't …

    Music and Media 4 Jun 2001, 12:43

  • Fasthosts redundancy redundant

    User misery continues

    Users of hosting service Fasthosts are complaining the service was unavailable again today - just days after an extended outage last week. A director of a web design agency told us Fasthosts' service, which he described as being "up and down like a tarts" knickers, was down again this morning leaving 30 of his clients without …

    e-Business 4 Jun 2001, 13:48

  • AI software in ‘Right Stuff’ space challenge

    NASA's CASPER plays Captain Kirk

    NASA boffins have declared their intention to hand over control of three satellites to artificial intelligence software. The project, planned for 2002, will see the Continuous Activity Scheduling, Planning Execution and Replanning (CASPER) software take full responsibility for the operation of the miniature satellites. …

    Bootnotes 4 Jun 2001, 13:50

  • Kill the Tory Invaders

    Zap Willy, Mad Annie and Smarmy Portillo

    Here's another political online game for you to enjoy - Tory Invaders. Based, unsurprisingly, on Space Invaders, you control Tony Blair, who fires rockets out the top of his head to strike hordes of cascading William Hagues, Michael Portillos, Anne Widdecombes and Francis Maudes. The mothership on the top of the screen is - …

    Business 4 Jun 2001, 13:57

  • Nvidia to offer GeForce 3-based nForce in 18-24 months

    Chipset upgrades will lag discrete graphics parts

    Nvidia will release a version of its nForce chipset - formerly known as Crush - powered by GeForce 3 graphics technology in under two years' time. Oh, and the company reckons its trademark is safe from UK-based nCipher, which also offers a trademarked product called nForce. Speaking at the UK introduction of nForce, some hours …

    Channel 4 Jun 2001, 14:02

  • Zipcom buys HighwayOne

    Anyone been following the cricket?

    Telecoms operator Zipcom plc has acquired UK-based HighwayOne for £900,000, the company confirmed today. It's not known if there are any job losses associated with the acquisition. Zipcom is a broadband provider for SMEs and uses fixed wireless access and DSL to offer hi-speed Net services in areas outside of major cities. By …

    e-Business 4 Jun 2001, 14:04

  • Dead voters and cyberspace embroiled in election fraud worries

    All eyes on Devon

    Fresh fears were raised over election fraud today after an experiment using the Internet, the post office, and dead voters. The dangers were unearthed by a BBC reporter, who managed to obtain seven votes in the marginal constituency of Torbay in Devon by using the names of dead people from the area. Andrew Gilligan, a reporter …

    Business 4 Jun 2001, 14:09

  • Nvidia accused of ‘heavy handed’ tactics

    Build a Kyro II-based board and it'll send the boys round

    Nvidia is using Intel-style tactics to help maintain its leadership of the PC graphics market, sources close to Taiwan's graphics card manufacturers have claimed. Nvidia has apparently been asking board vendors not to produce products based on rival graphics technologies - Imagination Technologies' and STMicroelectronics' Kyro …

    Channel 4 Jun 2001, 14:42

  • AMD extending 3D Now! even further?

    Seems so

    AMD is working on further extensions to its x86 instruction set, according to an Nvidia staffer. When asked whether Nvidia's nForce chipset drivers utilised AMD's 3D Now! extensions, said staffer admitted they did and later drivers will use "future AMD extensions". What did he mean? Two possibilities emerge. First, AMD is …

    Channel 4 Jun 2001, 15:11

  • Text messaging election poll kicks off tomorrow

    And apparently you don't have to register now

    That text messaging election poll we wrote about a week or so ago is due to kick off tomorrow. Why are we telling you again? Because we've had the press relations woman from Boltblue on the phone assuring us that you don't have to register with the company to vote. This was our major criticism of the poll when we first read …

    Data Networking 4 Jun 2001, 15:15

  • ATI signs Acer subsidiary as board maker

    Contract manufacturer licenses Rage, Radeon

    ATI has signed its first third-party graphics card alliance, with Acer's DMS unit. The deal gives Acer-DMS - which the parent company is in the process of spinning off - manufacturing and worldwide distribution rights to ATI's graphics chips. Some sites are portraying the partnership - described by the companies concerned, with …

    Business 4 Jun 2001, 15:21

  • IT services firms should be ‘boring and profitable’

    UK growth dips under 10%

    Sales in the UK IT services and software market grew less than ten per cent last year, according to a report out this week. The Ovum Holway report estimates revenue growth was 9.5 per cent for 2000, compared to 25 per cent in 1998. This is the first time growth has dropped below ten per cent since the recession of the early …

    Channel 4 Jun 2001, 15:33

  • Security expert waves DDoS white flag

    Gibson pleads with hackers to leave him alone

    Security expert Steve Gibson has posted a plea on his Web site grc.com for hackers to leave him alone. "I surrender. I surrender right now, completely and unconditionally," it begins. Now what kind of talk is that? Of course this is all over Steve's widely read piece on the DDoS attacks he was suffering. Steve did a whole …

    Security 4 Jun 2001, 15:54

  • Hardware Land joins the Computex Crush

    HWRoundup And Athlon MP preview

    Today was the first day of Computex. And Hardware Land is going into hyperdrive. Kyle at HardOCP has been a busy reporter with hot news of the new Abit BL7 Socket 478 Motherboard, and also the NV22/Crush 12 chipset. Read more. The site is also running an editorial about the nForce mainboard chipset . MSI has released a …

    Hardware Roundup 4 Jun 2001, 15:57

  • Archos JukeBox 6000

    Review We get our claws on the latest hard drive-equipped MP3 player

    MP3 players look set to take the place of personal CD players as our portable music device of choice. One of the key reasons for this is the ability to store literally hundreds of tracks on a single unit. However, in order to house your CD collection on a portable MP3 player you’ll need plenty of storage. That's where devices …

    Hardware Roundup 4 Jun 2001, 15:58

  • Yahoo! Finest! Invade! Ibiza!

    "Gee, what's Denmark famous for?"

    Register spies are everywhere, including Club Med in Ibiza. And they dish the dirt (disappointingly little in this case). But it just goes to show that you cannot be too careful when you are playing away, so to speak, as this report shows. Club Med, Ibiza. Halfway through last week, among the babies and children, emerged well …

    Bootnotes 4 Jun 2001, 16:23

  • All your vote are belong to us

    The electoral reprise of a classic

    Yep. It was inevitable but still worth looking at. The now legendary All You Base are Belong to Us animation has been given the election treatment. Now All your Vote are Belong to Us. It actually worth having a look. The action takes place on the Tory battle bus. The animation sequence is retained but with Hague, Portillo, …

    Business 4 Jun 2001, 16:24

  • Sayanora to SAN Squabbles

    Six rivals speak as one

    The heavy hitters in the storage marketplace are getting together to make sure their kit can work together when firms build storage area networks (SANs). System vendors Compaq, EMC, Hitachi Data Systems and IBM today promised to certify interoperability of heterogeneous SANs built from their kit and linked by fibre channel …

    Business 4 Jun 2001, 16:29

  • US boy caged for drawing gun in class

    Menace to society led away in cuffs

    An 11-year-old has been removed from his Elementary school in Oldsmar, US, after he drew a gun in the classroom, the St Petersburg Times Online reports. The school authorities, feeling that the boy posed a real and present danger to his schoolmates, alerted the campus police who restrained him "for his own safety." The school …

    Bootnotes 4 Jun 2001, 17:12

  • Computer Weakly advertiser hurls email abuse

    Customer Service? We've heard of it...

    We all know infuriating ads can be - especially when they're glued onto the front cover of a magazine. One Reg reader recently suffered the complete destruction of his copy of Computer Weekly as a result of such an ad. He then rather rashly decided to take the advertiser to task. Note that some identities have been changed to …

    Business 4 Jun 2001, 17:47

  • Alldas.de told to look for another home

    Defacement archive attracts unsavoury DoSSers

    Defacement mirror Alldas.de is looking for a new home after its ISP was subject to a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack over the weekend. The Syn-flood attack, which lasted 24 hours, against German ISP Kvalito had a severe effect on the service it was able to provide to all its customers, making the web sites it hosted …

    Security 4 Jun 2001, 17:52

  • Black Box buys London reseller

    Cabling specialist

    Black Box Corporation, the acquisition-mad US networking equipment reseller, has bought a small dealership in London, for an undisclosed price. The business, Computer Cables and Accessories Ltd, has been in operation since 1979 and turns over $5m a year, approx. As its name suggests, CCA is a cabling specialist. The company …

    Channel 4 Jun 2001, 20:05

  • Little Sage beats Big Sage in US courts

    Trademark infringement

    Oops! Sage, the accounting software giant, has got a bit of branding trouble on its hands: a US court ruled that it has infringed the trademark of a Dallas-based software business. Sage must stop using the word 'Sage' as a business mark from the beginning of next year. A seven man jury decided that Sage's had not wilfully …

    Business 4 Jun 2001, 20:27

  • Bread as a display device – we have pictures

    JavaOne Sunny side up

    The most impressive Java gadget we've seen makes its debut more than 5000 miles away from this week's JavaOne Conference in San Francisco. It's the engineering equivalent of a haiku: Robin Southgate's Java toaster, a device he assembled as part of his final year design project at Brunel University in England. The toaster dials …

    Software 4 Jun 2001, 20:37

  • End this Java Bloatware Madness! – developers

    JavaOne Just sign here...

    A petition calling for Sun to put Java on a diet has struck a chord with developers. Java is several things, one of which is – or ought to be – a lean and mean run-time. But with the latest Java 1.4 Virtual Machine checking in at 40Mb, says developer Chris Kelly, who has called for Sun to hand over development of new APIs – the …

    Software 4 Jun 2001, 22:30